Team Communication

As managers, we all want high-performing teams. Just like 10x engineers, 10x teams make a huge difference in the success of a business. But what makes one team more productive than another?
In our latest Team Communication article, we explore the research on what makes one team perform better than another and what you can do to create an environment that fosters trust, openness, and collaboration.

Leadership & Management

Are you lucky enough to be part of a "learning organization"? Probably not. Sofia Quintero of NomNom takes a look at why so many companies are incorrectly focused on learning faster—not learning better. Learn how to find opportunities to remove friction from your learning process so your team can learn better and faster.

Fighter pilots have to make split-second decisions—taking too long can cost their lives. Farnam Street explains how to use a mental model created by famed fighter pilot and military strategist John Boyd to make better decisions, faster. It's incredibly simple and can be applied to any situation that requires swift action with limited and constantly changing data. Sound familiar?

Having a balanced approach to management is important. What works for one situation may not for another. Jared Williams of Hubspot examines how balance applies to protecting and growing your team members. See when you should protect your team and when you should let them branch out and grow to keep them safe, happy, and fulfilled.

Jan Ambroziewicz of 10Clouds reviews 5 essential benefits of Scrum, including adapting to changing conditions, wasting less time, and keeping everyone engaged. If you're part of an organization that's still learning to use Scrum, this is a great article to share with skeptics.

People & Culture

"A software engineer is a problem solver first, and a coder second." Lorenzo Pasqualis explains how understanding a programming language or framework is not the hard part of software development. To be effective, software engineers must hone their problem-solving skills. Check out the article to learn 5 problem-solving skills that great developers should possess.

Claire Lew of Know Your Company reached out to almost 500 CEOs, managers, and executives and compiled six recommendations on how to handle firing someone with dignity, grace, and respect. If you're a manager, chances are you'll eventually have to fire someone. Learn how to handle it well ahead of time.

Only Slightly Off-Topic

In business, we often spend too much time being busy but not getting any meaningful work done. The "hero culture" that's present at many companies only exacerbates this. In this article, Barry O'Reilly outlines simple approaches like identifying our top priorities and setting time aside to think to make sure we're focused on what really matters.

Have you tried Status Hero yet?

Status Hero is a lightweight tool for tracking daily goals, activity, and status updates from your team. It works with your existing tools, like email, Jira, GitHub, Trello, and Slack. Skip costly meetings, map goals to accomplishments, and unearth blocking issues quickly. Status Hero helps you and your team get more done with fast access to the big picture. Check out a live demo).

Did we miss something noteworthy?

Let us know! We're always on the hunt for helpful articles. Just email us at leadingsoftwarepeople@statushero.com